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IOWA APPLIED HISTORY SERIES 

EDITED BY BENJAMIN F. SHAMBAUGH 


PRIMARY ELECTIONS 
IN IOWA 


BY 

FRANK E. HORACE 


PUBLISHED AT IOWA CITY IOWA IN 1912 BY 
THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF IOWA 











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EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION 


American democracy seems inclined to reject any 
intermediary between itself and tlie government. In 
Iowa the caucus system of the early Territorial days 
soon gave way to the delegate convention system of 
nominating candidates for elective offices. And now, 
in our own time, the convention system promises to 
be all but completely supplanted by the more direct 
system of the regulated party primary. 

Moreover, it is not altogether certain that the 
present party primary will long endure as the nom¬ 
inating system of democracy. Indeed, a non-partisan 
primary has already been provided for the commis¬ 
sion governed cities of the State. Will this method 
of nominating candidates be ultimately extended 
until all party primaries are fused into a single State¬ 
wide non-partisan preliminary election? 

It is evident that in the regulation of primary 
elections three points at least are pressing for imme¬ 
diate attention: (1) the enactment of a measure 
(similar to the bill passed by the Thirty-fourth Gen¬ 
eral Assembly, but vetoed by the Governor) embody¬ 
ing the principle of the Oregon plan in the selection 
of United States Senators; (2) the enactment of 
legislation providing for an adequate presidential 


5 




6 


APPLIED HISTORY 


preference primary; and (3) the enactment of com¬ 
prehensive corrupt practices legislation which will 
be applicable to primary elections. 

To fully understand the place of the primary in 
our system of government and to intelligently direct 
its course of development requires a knowledge of its 
history as well as of its purpose. 

Benj. F. Shambatjgh 

Office of the Superintendent and Editor 
The State Historical Society of Iowa 
Iowa City 1912 





AUTHOR PREFACE 


To make popular government really democratic is one of 
the great political problems of the present age. It mat¬ 
ters little that strict election laws are on the statute hooks 
if the foundation upon which popular government rests, 
the primary, is not adequately regulated. Whatever 
promotes the participation of the masses in political 
atfairs awakens and keeps alive their interest in govern¬ 
ment, and should on that account he encouraged. The 
direct primary has been found to meet a real political 
need: indeed, the demand for comprehensive primary 
laws is as great to-day as the demand for the Australian 
ballot was twenty-five years ago. 

In the following pages it has been the writer’s pur¬ 
pose to give a brief historical analysis of American 
political methods in the nominations of candidates for 
elective offices and to discuss briefly the problems of 
nomination by direct popular vote in the State of Iowa. 

Fkank E. Horack 

The State University of Iowa 
Iowa City 


7 




* 1 





f, 




CONTENTS 


I. Early Party Machinery in the United States 

II. The Development op the Direct Primary 

III. History of Primary Regulation in Iowa 

IV. Criticisms of the Iowa Primary .... 

THE LIGHT VOTE ...... 

THE UNREPRESENTATIVE CHARACTER OP THE PRIMARY 
UNINTELLIGENT VOTING ..... 

THE LONG BALLOT ...... 

THE PRIMARY A MENACE TO PARTY 

THE COST OF THE PRIMARY ..... 
THE PERSISTENCE OF THE CAUCUS 
THE TIME OP HOLDING THE PRIMARY 
SOME GENERAL OBSERVATIONS .... 

V. Standards of Primary Regulation 


11 

17 

23 

32 

32 

36 

37 

38 

40 

41 

43 

43 

43 

46 


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I 


EARLY PARTY MACHINERY IN THE 
UNITED STATES 

The existence of well organized political parties con¬ 
testing for supremacy at every National, State, and local 
election is a political phenomenon so common that its 
absence rather than its presence would occasion com¬ 
ment. Yet the framers of our National Constitution 
feared the organization of political parties and sought 
to devise a scheme of government which would overcome 
‘‘the superior force of an interested and overbearing 
majority In his farewell address Washington de¬ 
nounced “the spirit of partyas the worst enemy of 
popular government; but he lived to see his advice un¬ 
heeded and his own administration assailed to promote 
the growth of the party spirit which he had decried. 
Now, in our own time, the spirit of party is again as¬ 
sailed and significant movements have been started to 
minimize its influence. 

The history of nominating methods in American pol¬ 
itics may be divided into three periods, namely, the 
period of the congressional and legislative caucus, the 
period of the nominating convention, and the period of 
the direct primary. As the method of each period served 
a real need in its time, so the problem of the present is to 
adjust political institutions to new conditions. 

Democracy has never been entirely satisfied with the 
representative government bequeathed by the Fathers. 


11 


12 


APPLIED HISTORY 


From the very beginning of the Republic there was a 
demand for a larger participation in the affairs of gov¬ 
ernment by the masses. The first struggle was for the 
extension of the suffrage. Having obtained that much, 
the people demanded the right to choose their own candi¬ 
dates for office and to determine their own public policies. 
Moreover, the rapid change from rural to urban life in 
the United States within the last century has greatly 
increased the demand for the popular control of political 
machinery. 

Soon after the Revolution democracy, conscious of its 
own power, refused to accept the guidance of self- 
appointed leaders; and so the parlor caucuses of ^Head¬ 
ing citizens’’ gave way to the more popular legislative 
and congressional caucus as a means of nominating elec¬ 
tive officers. There were many reasons why the legis¬ 
lative and congressional caucus was preferred as a 
means of giving expression to party opinion. A trip to 
the State or National capital was no small undertaking 
before the days of the railroad, when roads were scarcely 
laid out and streams unbridged. Moreover, the repre¬ 
sentatives of the people at the State and National 
capitals were presumed to know the wishes of their con¬ 
stituents. And so very naturally the State represent¬ 
atives assumed the responsibility of selecting candidates 
for all elective State officers, while the representatives in 
Congress placed in nomination the candidates for the 
Presidency and Vice Presidency. While this method was 
from the first subject to severe criticism as an unauthor¬ 
ized assumption of power, it proved to he a real means of 
giving effect to party opinion, and was therefore toler¬ 
ated until democracy found a more direct method of 
expressing the public will. 


PRIMARY ELECTIONS IN IOWA 


13 


As time went on the growth of the railroad, the tele¬ 
graph, and the post office brought the people of the 
United States closer and closer together. The public 
press rapidly assumed the role of a party organ, voicing, 
moulding, and directing public opinion. Under such con¬ 
ditions it is little wonder that the old institutions of 
party machinery gave way, and that the people began to 
suspect that the personal interest of the participants in 
tlie legislative and congressional caucus was altogether 
too great. In his day Andrew Jackson made it his special 
mission to deal the death blow to ^‘King CaucusHe 
and his followers asserted that the framers of the Con¬ 
stitution were very careful to provide that Congress 
should not elect the President; but now a party majority 
of Congressmen were doing that very thing — and even 
in secret caucus. Thus the congressional and legislative 
caucus was under grave suspicion: it was thought to be 
tainted with graft and a desire for patronage. Jackson 
would never have been the caucus nominee, although he 
was the people’s choice. But the people lacked a con¬ 
venient and effective method of giving expression to their 
choice. 

In the period of transition to the convention system, 
following the discrediting of the congressional and legis¬ 
lative caucus, nominations were made by State legisla¬ 
tures, by mass meetings, by newspaper announcements, 
and by a general concurrence of party meetings and 
agencies. 

In 1830 the Anti-Masonic party assembled in con¬ 
vention in Philadelphia. It adopted resolutions arrang¬ 
ing for a second convention to be held in the following 
year, and recommended that each State be allowed a 
number of delegates equal to the number of electoral 


14 


APPLIED HISTORY 


votes to which it was entitled in the Electoral College or 
the number of its Representatives and Senators in Con¬ 
gress. But the manner of choosing these delegates was 
not specified. Following these recommendations the first 
delegate convention was held in September, 1831. No 
platform was adopted, hut a near approach to it was 
made by the appointment of a committee to issue an ad¬ 
dress to the people. In the year following, however, the 
first party platform was written. By 1840 the convention 
system had become firmly established as a method of 
nominating public officers and had taken upon itself the 
function of giving expression to party issues. 

The convention system held undisputed sway in 
American politics until after the close of the Civil War. 
The point of emphasis, however, is that during all this 
time it was neither recognized nor regulated by law. 
Political parties were free to carry on the nominating 
process as custom, tradition, or party rules might dic¬ 
tate. Perhaps it was unfortunate for the new nominating 
system that it was born at the time that Jackson estab¬ 
lished his famous principle of rotation in office as a 
necessary safeguard of free government. The number of 
voters had been increased, the number of elective officers 
had been increased, and nearly every office became the 
spoils of party victory. 

The nominating convention showed evidences of weak¬ 
ness from the beginning. As early as 1844 Calhoun 
denounced it as a hundred times more objectionable than 
the congressional caucus — although he had contributed 
largely to the overthrow of the old system. Unscrupu¬ 
lous party managers quickly saw the opportunities which 
it afforded for enrichment; and so within both of the 
great parties there was a struggle to control the party 


PRIMARY ELECTIONS IN IOWA 


15 


machinery. Corruption and abuses multiplied until the 
protests of a restless people demanded some public reg¬ 
ulation and control of the nominating machinery. 

The specific abuses of the convention system which 
called for regulation by law may be briefly summarized. 
(1) In the all-absorbing struggle to control the conven¬ 
tion it soon became evident that there was no guaranty 
that participation in a party caucus or primary would 
be confined to members of the party immediately con¬ 
cerned. In the rural communities there was little dif¬ 
ficulty on this account; hut in the large cities and urban 
centers party primaries were invaded and controlled by 
men of any or of no political persuasion. Sometimes this 
control was secured in a quiet and orderly manner, and 
sometimes it was accompanied by violence and disorder 
of the worst kind. (2) Party tests were established 
which excluded many bona fide voters. (3) While bribery 
at an election was punishable, bribery in a primary or 
caucus was no legal offense. Moreover, there was no 
pretense of concealment of corrupt practices, for there 
was no penalty at law. (4) In voting there was no appeal 
from the ruling of the chairman. (5) Ballot boxes were 
stuffed, the counts falsified, or any one of many ingenious 
devices might he employed to insure the desired result. 
(6) In some cases primaries properly conducted were 
held upon wholly insufficient or inadequate notice in order 
that only the few interested would he found in attend¬ 
ance; or if properly called, caucuses were frequently 
held in objectionable or inaccessible places or in rooms 
wholly inadequate for the number of voters eligible to 
participate. 

The attempts of the parties to eliminate the worst 
evils of the convention system by regulation within the 


16 


APPLIED HISTORY 


party were not as a rule effective. Accordingly, the 
voters generally appealed to the legislatures for relief. 
The progress of this new reform movement may there¬ 
fore be traced through legislative acts. 


II 

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE DIRECT PRIMARY 


In the year 1866 in California an act was passed ‘‘to 
protect the elections of voluntary associations and to 
punish frauds therein.'' This statute was a purely op¬ 
tional measure, applying only to such political associa¬ 
tions or parties as might invoke its protection and subject 
themselves to its provisions. It provided for a public 
call of the caucus, for sworn supervision of elections, and 
for the prevention of illegal voting. All expense incurred 
in the primary was to be borne by the party. In the same 
year New York passed a law covering bribery and the 
intimidation of voters or delegates. Although neither of 
these laws contemplated anything like a complete public 
control over party primaries, they nevertheless consti¬ 
tute an important step in the development of political 
parties. In 1871 Ohio and Pennsylvania passed laws 
very similar to those just noted. The adoption of the 
direct primary in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, dur¬ 
ing the sixties was much in advance of most of the 
movements for direct nominations. 

Down to 1880 primary legislation made but little 
progress. But the period from 1880 to 1890 was one of 
agitation for better regulation of elections, which tended 
to stimulate interest in the methods of nomination as 
well. As early as 1880 direct nomination was urged as 
the best remedy for the evils of the party system; hut 
most of the legislation passed during this period only 


17 


18 


APPLIED HISTORY 


aimed to prohibit the most obvious kinds of fraud in the 
primaries. There was a tendency to enumerate in great¬ 
er detail the procedure to be followed in the primary as 
well as in the election; but since the laws were mostly 
optional the primary was still almost wholly under party 
control. A few mandatory acts were passed, but these 
were generally of a local or special nature. 

The general adoption of the Australian ballot about 
1890 was a distinct legal recognition of political parties. 
The State now prescribed the method of conducting elec¬ 
tions; and the State was to print the ballots and deter¬ 
mine what names were to appear upon it. Party 
officers were to certify to the proper legal officers the 
nominations, which were then to be printed as the of¬ 
ficially recognized party candidates. The public having 
thus become accustomed to the idea of legislative con¬ 
trol, it was an easy step to require that all nominations 
should be made only in accordance with such rules and 
regulations as might be prescribed by law. Primary 
reform now advanced rapidly, one of the important 
phases of legislation in this period being the development 
of a definite test of party allegiance and the official regis¬ 
tration of party voters. By 1899 two-thirds of the States 
had enacted primary laws of one kind or another; but no 
State had yet passed a mandatory act, placing the pri¬ 
mary on the same basis as the election. 

The period from 1899 to the present time has been one 
of unprecedented activity in primary reform legislation. 
Moreover, the most striking features of this legislation 
have been (1) the tendency to apply as nearly as pos¬ 
sible the laws governing regular elections to the conduct 
of primaries, (2) the tendency to substitute nomination 
by direct vote for the indirect convention system, and (3) 


PRIMARY ELECTIONS IN IOWA 


19 


the tendency to require the preparation and distribution 
of the primary ballots by public authorities rather than 
by private individuals or organizations. 

Every State in the Union has now legislated against 
the abuses arising under the voluntary party system of 
nomination; and most of the States have primary laws 
that are State-wide in their operation, mandatory in 
character, and fairly complete in their provisions. Party 
machinery in the South is, however, still largely under 
party control; while the most advanced position with re¬ 
gard to the regulation of primaries has been taken by 
the States of the Mississippi Valley and of the Pacific 
Coast. Popular nominations had been experimented 
with in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, back in the six¬ 
ties ; but the widespread interest in this method of nom¬ 
ination within the last decade has undoubtedly been 
aroused chiefly by startling disclosures of the betrayal 
of public trust by party leaders. The regulated primary 
election, offering that wider participation in government 
desired by the people, could no longer he resisted by the 
old party leaders. Half-way and compromise measures 
were only temporary expedients, which were sure to be 
followed up in succeeding legislative assemblies with a 
renewed demand for a compulsory. State-wide act. 

There are several nominating systems which combine 
the primary and the petition methods. In some States, 
in order to place a name upon the primary election ballot, 
a number of party voters resident within the district 
must file a petition with the proper officers of county or 
State. This may be a fixed number, or as is more often 
the case, a certain percentage of the party voters within 
the district is required. But in no State does the number 
of petitioners exceed ten per cent of the party vote — in 


20 


APPLIED HISTORY 


fact, it is usually very much less. In other States a fee 
is required of the candidate in return for the privilege 
of having his name placed upon the ballot. This fee may 
be either a lump sum or a percentage of the salary of 
the office. Again, in some jurisdictions only an applica¬ 
tion signed by the candidate is required. 

The alphabetical order has been the most common 
arrangement of the names which appear on the ballot. 
This method, having been severely criticised as giving 
an advantage to the first name on the list, the present 
tendency is toward a system of rotation by which each 
name is presumed to appear at the head of the list an 
equal number of times. In a few States names are placed 
on the ballot in the order in which their declaration of 
candidacy has been filed, a method which too often re¬ 
sults in an undignified rush to be first. 

There is considerable variation in recent legislation 
relative to the vote required for nomination. Simple 
pluralities are not popular, though convenient: they are 
adopted in most northern States, though often resulting 
in nominations by small minorities. Majority rule has 
been a popular watchword in America; and yet where 
there are several candidates of nearly equal strength 
majorities are difficult to obtain and it becomes necessary 
to accept plurality nominations, or hold a second pri¬ 
mary, or entrust the choice to a convention, or adopt a 
system of second choices. In a number of States a per¬ 
centage less than a majority has been required — usually 
from thirty to forty per cent of the vote. If a leading 
candidate fails to receive such a percentage the choice 
falls to a convention. A system of preferential second- 
choice voting has been adopted in five States, whereby the 
voter may designate a first and a second choice. Either 


PKIMARY ELECTIONS IN IOWA 


21 


the second choice votes are added to the first choice votes 
or by a process of elimination the second choice votes are 
added to the first choice votes to obtain majority nom¬ 
inations. 

As the primary becomes more and more like a regular 
election the question of party membership increases in 
importance if the party is to assume responsibility for 
its own nominations and for the declaration of party 
principles. Who are to be considered Democrats and 
who are to be considered Republicans? The States now 
generally define by law the tests of party affiliation. 
Only in the Southern States are the tests of party organ¬ 
izations accepted. 

The Legislative Reference Department of the Wiscon¬ 
sin Library Commission issued, in December, 1908, a 
bulletin on the test of party affiliation in primary elec¬ 
tions in the several States, in which the following tests of 
party affiliation, to which the voter must subscribe before 
being permitted to participate in the primary, are listed: 
(1) past allegiance, (2) present affiliation, (3) future in¬ 
tention, (4) past action and present intention, (5) past 
action and future intention, (6) present affiliation and 
future intention, and (7) past, present, and future affilia¬ 
tion. The voter’s declaration may be made at the pri¬ 
mary and no record kept of it, or his declaration may be 
made a matter of permanent record. To-day the open 
primary, where all party tickets are on the same ballot 
with no test of party affiliation required, is gaining in 
popularity. 

Political parties early took upon themselves the 
function of declaring the party’s principles in conven¬ 
tion assembled. But the substitution of the direct 
vote for the delegate convention has called forth some 


22 


APPLIED HISTORY 


new methods of giving expression to party prin¬ 
ciples. In the South, where the population (exclud¬ 
ing the colored people) is more homogeneous than in 
the North and where the race problem is an important 
factor, there is really but one effective political party. 
There the optional State-wide primary is the rule; and 
during the primary campaign each candidate makes a 
statement of his position on public matters. In Wis¬ 
consin, under the statute law, the candidates for State 
and legislative offices, together with the hold-over mem¬ 
bers of the party in the legislature, draw up a platform 
of party principles. Thus, in Wisconsin the platform 
becomes a candidates^ platform. In a number of other 
jurisdictions the State central committee and the candi¬ 
dates for State office formulate the platform. In those 
States which require a choice by a convention, unless a 
minimum percentage of the vote is obtained, the delegates 
to this convention, chosen by the primary itself, draw up 
the platform. Oregon and Texas have provided for a 
popular expression on public policies. The Texas law 
states that ‘‘any political party shall never place in the 
platform or resolution of the party they represent any 
demand for specific legislation on any subject unless the 
demand for such specific legislation shall have been sub¬ 
mitted to a direct vote of the people, and shall have been 
endorsed by a majority vote of all the votes cast in the 
primary election of such party. ’ ’ 


Ill 

HISTORY OF PRIMARY REGULATION IN IOWA 

The first effort toward securing State regulation of pri¬ 
mary elections in Iowa was made in 1896, when three 
different bills were rejected by the Twenty-sixth General 
Assembly. In 1898 renewed efforts resulted in the adop¬ 
tion of a local optional primary law; and by 1902 this 
local primary had been adopted in thirty-six of the nine¬ 
ty-nine counties of the State by at least one of the parties. 

The movement within the General Assembly for a 
compulsory State-wide primary election law was begun 
in January, 1902, when State Senator J. J. Crossley 
introduced a measure known as the ^‘Crossley BilP\ 
This bill was never even reported to the Senate from the 
committee to which it had been promptly referred; while 
the House measure, which was identical with that of the 
Senate, was lost after the addition of many amendments 
and a long and heated debate. Senator Crossley persist¬ 
ently introduced his State-wide primary election bill at 
each succeeding session of the General Assembly until 
it was finally passed and approved on April 4, 1907. The 
chief features of the Iowa primary law, as originally 
adopted in 1907, may he summarized as follows:— 

1. The law is compulsory and State-wide for all 
State offices except judicial offices. 

2. It provides for a popular choice of presidential 
electors and an advisory vote on United States Senators. 

3. All parties participate in the primary on the same 
day, at the same place, and use the same ballot box. 


23 


24 


APPLIED HISTORY 


4. The judges and clerks of the primary election are 
chosen in the same manner as for general elections and 
with the same compensation. 

5. The Australian ballot is employed, each party 
having a separate ballot, with the names of candidates 
arranged alphabetically under each office. 

6. Party affiliation is determined by the elector's 
oral choice of ballot, which choice is made a matter of 
record. But party affiliation can easily be changed by 
filing a declaration of change with the county auditor ten 
days prior to the primary election, or by taking an oath 
when offering to vote that one has in good faith changed 
his party affiliation. 

7. Candidates for nomination must file nomination 
papers from thirty to forty days prior to the primary 
election, depending upon the office sought. These nom¬ 
ination papers must contain the signatures of a certain 
per cent of the candidate’s party vote, depending upon 
the office sought. 

Nomination papers of candidates for United States 
Senator, Elector at Large, and State officers must have 
the signatures of one per cent of their party vote in each 
of at least ten counties and in the aggregate not less than 
one-half of one per cent of the total vote of his party in 
the State as shown by the last general election. 

Candidates for offices chosen from districts composed 
of more than one county must have the signatures of two 
per cent of their party vote in at least one-half of the 
counties and in the aggregate not less than one per cent 
of his party vote in the district. 

Offices filled by the voters of the county must have the 
signatures of two per cent of their party vote in the 
county. 


PRIMARY ELECTIONS IN IOWA 


25 


8. A candidate to receive the nomination of his party 
must receive at least thirty-five per cent of all the votes 
cast by his party for such office. Tie votes are deter¬ 
mined by the board of canvassers or judges of election by 
lot; and vacancies are filled by the party committee for 
county, district, or State. 

9. Delegates to county conventions as well as mem¬ 
bers of the county central committee are chosen at the 
primary election. The county convention, composed of 
the delegates chosen in the various voting precincts, is 
empowered to make nominations of candidates for the 
party for any office to be filled by the voters of a county 
where no candidate for such office has been nominated at 
the preceding primary election. The county convention 
selects delegates to State and district conventions. 
Moreover, any of these conventions may adopt resolu¬ 
tions or platforms. 

10. The nomination of candidates by petition is still 
permitted under certain conditions. It was in this way 
that the names of Progressive candidates were placed 
upon the official ballot in 1912. 

11. Penalties are imposed for misconduct on the part 
of officials or for certain corrupt practices. 

Such are in brief the provisions of the Iowa primary 
election law as originally adopted in 1907. Primary 
legislation was one of the local issues upon which the 
^‘Standpat’’ and ^‘Progressive’^ wings of the Repub¬ 
lican party in Iowa were divided. The Progressives 
heralded the passage of the law as one of the greatest 
political reforms ever accomplished in Iowa; while the 
Standpatters declared that it was passed only to serve 
the ambitions of leading Progressives. They urged 
many objections to the law, declaring that it would never 


26 


APPLIED HISTORY 


work well in practice. The first application of the law in 
1908 was made the occasion for one of the bitterest po¬ 
litical contests in the history of the Republican party in 
Iowa. 

The first result of the Iowa primary was the apparent 
choice of candidates in alphabetical order. It was 
claimed that Allison won over Cummins in the senatorial 
primary in 1908 because of his alphabetical advantage. 
The sudden death of Senator Allison necessitated a 
special primary on the senatorship, and in this primary 
Cummins won easily over Lacey. The candidates for 
Governor and Lieutenant Governor likewise appear to 
have been selected alphabetically^ The Standpat Carroll 
won over the Progressive Garst for Governor; while the 
Progressive Clarke won over the Standpat Murphy for 
Lieutenant Governor. 

The vote cast at the first primary election varied from 
forty to sixty per cent of the party vote in different 
localities. Many saw in this light vote the failure of the 
system. The public announcement and record of party 
affiliation undoubtedly kept many away from the primary 
polls. Those who opposed the passage of the law, though 
for the most part successful at the polls, saw all of their 
objections verified in its first trial and still condemned it. 
In like manner those who were responsible for the enact¬ 
ment of the primary law, though defeated at the polls, 
still praised the system and saw no good reason for 
abandoning it. 

These two opposing views are clearly reflected in the 
press comments on the first primary election held under 
the law. The Register and Leader, a leading Progressive 
organ, in an editorial of June 5, 1908, entitled Stand hy 
the Primary, observed: 


PRIMARY ELECTIONS IN IOWA 


27 


Not only has the popular will been expressed but it has been 
expressed quietly, without disorder, coercion or bribery, there 
has been a freedom from drunkenness and fraud. As for ex¬ 
pense, which will be most talked about by those who would 
abandon the new system, we undertake to say that more money 
has been spent in a single campaign in the 7th congressional 
district than has been spent this year in the entire state. . . . 
It should be remembered that the Australian ballot was not 
wholly satisfactory on first trial. But no one would propose to 
go back to the days of the unlegalized ballot. 

The Sioux City Tribune, another organ of the Pro¬ 
gressive Republicans, said: 

The Tribune had a large force of trained men on the streets 
of Sioux City all day and most of the night, and there was little 
criticism of the primary. On the contrary man after man was 
heard to praise the law as he came from the booth where he had, 
unmolested, been able to declare his judgment on men and 
issues. 

The number of votes cast and the universal good order and 
good feeling throughout the day are unassailable testimony to 
the wholesomeness and popularity of the law. In this city there 
would not have been 400 men at caucuses, whereas more than 
4000 of the very best citizens were at the primary. 

The Burlington HawJceye, an organ of the Standpat 
Republicans, remarked: 

The light vote was a surprise all around .... After all 
the publicity given the primary law itself, the energetic cam¬ 
paign by public speakers and the press, and one of the biggest 
political uproars Iowa ever had, one that by its strenuousness 
attracted National attention, the people failed to come out and 
vote .... in the numbers predicted. . . . Is it worth 

the extra expense to the tax payers? 

The Dubuque Times, Standpat Republican, declared: 


28 


APPLIED HISTORY 


The primary election law is a failure, because it imposes two 
general elections and two campaigns upon the press and the 
people, because it unnecessarily imposes enormous expense upon 
the tax payers of the State and upon the candidates or their 
friends. 

The Cedar Rapids Republican, an organ of the Stand- 
pat Republicans, commented as follows: 

Without waiting for the results so far as candidates are 
concerned .... it is safe to say that enough has transpired 
to demonstrate that it is utterly vicious, and worse even than it 
was said to be by those who opposed it at the time it was passed. 
Every objection urged against this law has been shown to be well 
founded. 

Other comments on the operation of the law declare 
that the primary nomination method is a good deal of a 
farce; that it is as large and unwieldy as Richard’s corn 
hnsker; that it was the contest and not the primary that 
drew; that the law ought to be benched; that it is a great 
victory for clean politics; that it is the correct system, 
and by its enactment Iowa has taken a mighty step for¬ 
ward in popular government; and that it will go down in 
history as a grand fizzle. 

The Neivs, published at Winter set, the home of Sen¬ 
ator Crossley, the father of the Iowa primary law, says: 

Senator Crossley leaves next week for Alaska. Here’s hoping 
that he takes his primary bill with him and dumps it into the 
Arctic. 

The Iowa primary election law was amended in seven¬ 
teen different sections at the first session of the General 
Assembly following its adoption. Most of these amend¬ 
ments, however, do not materially change the character 
of the law, but relate chiefly to procedure, or are designed 


PRIMARY ELECTIONS IN IOWA 


29 


to make the law more explicit. Briefly stated the amend¬ 
ments passed in 1909 are as follows:— 

1. The statement that the vote on United States Sen¬ 
ator is advisory was repealed (Section 1). 

2. Primary expenses are to he borne in the same 
manner as general election expenses; and judges and 
clerks of elections are to receive twenty-five cents per 
hour (Section 5). 

3. The time of opening and closing the polls in pre¬ 
cincts where registration is not required was changed 
(Section 6). 

4. Candidates for party committeemen are not re¬ 
quired to file nomination papers (Section 10). 

5. The Secretary of State is to arrange names of 
candidates for State offices as they shall appear on the 
ballot in the several counties (Section 13). 

6. The County Auditor is to arrange names of candi¬ 
dates for district and county offices as they shall appear 
on the official ballot. 

7. A slight change is made in the form in which can¬ 
didates for party committeeman appear on the primary 
ballot (Section 14). 

8. Provisions relating to the form and distribution 
of sample ballots were enacted (Section 15). 

9. Candidates are given the right to demand a re¬ 
counting of ballots under certain conditions (Section 18). 

10. The Board of Supervisors are to make a list of 
the candidates who failed to receive thirty-five per cent 
of their party vote, and give a copy of the same to the 
chairman of each party’s central committee (Section 19). 

11. The Board of Supervisors are required to pub¬ 
lish the results of the primary election (Section 21). 

12. The Executive Council is to make a list of the 


30 


APPLIED HISTORY 


candidates for State offices who failed to receive thirty- 
five per cent of their party vote, and give a copy of the 
same to the chairman of each party’s State Central Com¬ 
mittee (Section 22). 

13. Provisions for the proper certification of nom¬ 
inations made by conventions or party committees were 
added (Section 23). 

14. The manner of filling vacancies for the office of 
United States Senator, occurring after the primary but 
before the general election, was provided at a special 
session of the General Assembly after the death of Sen¬ 
ator Allison (Section 24). 

15. New provisions relating to date of the county 
convention and to notification of delegates and their 
term of office, and limitations on powers of the county 
convention were made (Section 25). 

16. Provisions relative to district conventions were 
made similar to those for the county (Section 26). 

17. Provisions relative to the State convention were 
made similar to those for county and district conventions 
(Section 27). 

The two most important of the seventeen amendments 
enumerated are, first, the provision for the rotation of 
the names of candidates on the primary ballot, to avoid 
the advantage which Adams and Brown had over Young 
and Zeller under the alphabetical arrangement, and (2) 
the provision for the filling of vacancies occurring after 
the conventions have been held but prior to the election. 

It was the provision relating to the rotation of names 
on the ballot which most interested the candidates for 
office at the second trial of the law in June, 1910. Again, 
at this second primary election there were many sur¬ 
prises and some disappointments. The returns show that 


PRIMARY ELECTIONS IN IOWA 


31 


in most cases where a candidate's name headed the list 
in the county or voting precinct he usually polled the 
most votes. In many instances the majority of voters 
are said to have voted for the first name on the list. 

The General Assembly added but two amendments to 
the primary law in 1911. One of these, changing the date 
of holding the primary from the first Tuesday after the 
first Monday in June to the first Monday in June, called 
forth considerable ridicule from the press of the State. 
The other amendment repealed Section 19, which relates 
to the canvass of the primary vote by the Board of Super¬ 
visors, but reenacted most of the original section and 
added to it provisions declaring under what conditions 
persons whose names were not on the official primary 
ballot may be considered as the nominees of the party on 
whose tickets their names had been written. 


IV 

CRITICISMS OF THE IOWA PRIMARY 

Thus far the Iowa primary has been subjected to no little 
criticism — especially from the press of the State. As 
already pointed out, those who opposed the passage of 
the law seem to see their objections verified in the work¬ 
ings of its provisions; while the friends of the measure 
ara only confirmed in their faith in the system. It is, 
however, a significant fact that there is no real demand 
for the repeal of the law, although suggestions for its 
modification are frequently advanced. The criticisms 
which followed the several trials of the law are of a 
popular rather than a scientific character. Indeed, there 
has been fittle academic discussion of the merits of the 
primary system in Iowa since its adoption in 1907. 

THE LIGHT VOTE 

The most general criticism of the Iowa primary has 
been provoked by the light vote, the contention being that 
the failure of the system to bring out a full vote was in 
itself discrediting. But this criticism overlooks the fact 
that the participation of from fifty to sixty per cent of the 
voters in the primary was vastly more than the total of 
the many small caucus groups which previously assem¬ 
bled to select delegates to county conventions. 

Estimating the Republican strength in Iowa by the 
vote cast for Taft electors in 1908 (namely, 275,209), the 
number of primary ballots cast for all three Republican 


32 


PRIMARY ELECTIONS IN IOWA 


33 


candidates for Governor at tlie primary in 1908 was 
93,346 less than the vote cast for presidential electors. 
At the primary in 1910, with only two Republican candi¬ 
dates for the office of Governor (both of whom were well 
known, having been candidates for that office in the first 
primary), the Republican party polled nearly 5000 votes 
less than in 1908 when there were three candidates in the 
field. In 1912, with three candidates in the field, the Re¬ 
publican party polled 181,219 votes, or only 644 more 
votes than were polled for the office of Governor by the 
same party in 1908. 

At the primary in 1908 the Democratic party had but 
one candidate for the office of Governor, and he polled 
50,065 votes; while at the general election in November 
he received 197,015 votes — which was about 4000 votes 
less than were cast for Bryan electors. At the primary 
in 1910 the Democrats had three candidates for the office 
of Governor, and the total Democratic vote (46,982) cast 
for all of them was over 3000 less than the single candi¬ 
date received in 1908. In 1912 two candidates on the 
Democratic ticket polled 57,370 votes for the office of 
Governor, but at the general election of 1912 the Demo¬ 
cratic candidate's total vote was nearly 180,000. Thus 
it seems that the number of contestants does not neces¬ 
sarily influence the size of the vote cast at the primary. 

The spirited contest within the Republican party in 
1912 brought out 247,573 votes for senatorial candidates, 
a larger proportion of the voters than at the two pre¬ 
ceding primary elections; and so no charge that the vote 
was light was made after the 1912 primary. 

County and district contests seem to bring out more 
votes than are cast in the uncontested districts and 
counties. At the primary in 1910 there were contests 


34 


APPLIED HISTORY 


Table Comparing the Total Vote Cast at the General Elec¬ 
tion BY All Parties with the Total Vote Cast 
FOR THE Same Offices at the Primary 


Elections 

Total Vote 

Cast for 

Governor 

Lieutenant 

Governor 

Secretary 

OF State 

State 

Auditor 

State 

Treasurer 

Attorney 

General 

Superintendent 

OF Public 

Instruction 

General Election 
of 1906 . 

432,538 

393,367 

392,171 

392,044 

391,428 

390,890 

390,59J 

First 

Primary Election 
June 1908 . 

234,554 

224,610 

213,267 

218,292 

212,523 

209,387 

210,757 

General Election 
of 1908 . 

454,124 

448,951 

448,247 

447,447 

447,508 

446,793 

446,845 

Second 

Primary Election 
June 1910 . 

224,432 

203,864 

199,885 

198,042 

196,753 

196,848 

195,499' 

General Election 
of 1910 . 

412,770 

371,041 

369,211 

369,150 

368,604 

370,577 

366,314 

Third 

Primary Election 
June 1912 . 

241,630 

222,041 

222,020 

218,889 

214,230 

208,144 

204,553; 

General Election 
of 1912 . 









among tlie Republicans in five of the eleven congres¬ 
sional districts, and it appears that more than half of the 
Republican vote of the entire State was cast in these five 
districts. It is asserted that a lively contest in Dubuque 
County for all elective offices on the Democratic ticket 
brought out 4178 Democratic votes at the primary. This 
was a larger vote than the Democratic party polled in 
the remainder of the third district where their normal 
strength is about 17,000 votes. Dubuque, however, is the 
only strongly Democratic county in the district and 
usually polls about 6500 Democratic votes. Moreover, in 
1908 Taft electors received 4708 votes in Dubuque Coun- 
































PRIMARY ELECTIONS IN IOWA 


35 


ty; but as the Republican situation was hopeless there 
were no contests in the county, and only 966 Republican 
votes were cast at the primary in 1910. Thus the Repub¬ 
licans polled but one-fifth of their vote at the primary. 

Local contests sometimes seem to overshadow State 
or district contests at the primary election. Thus in 1910 
the office of sheriff in Dubuque County received a third 
more votes than were cast for the office of Governor in 
the same county. 

To explain the light vote at the 1910 primary seems to 
have been the task of the press of the State from the 
country weekly to the city daily. But the explanations 
offered are often colored with party bias or preexisting 
prejudice. An examination of the returns shows that the 
cities cast a fair proportion of their normal vote. The 
great slump came in the rural districts, where scant no¬ 
tice was paid to the primary by the farmers who were 
much more concerned, during the first week in June, in 
plowing their corn than in endorsing or condemning the 
Taft administration. 

Another explanation for the light vote at the primary 
is that the voters themselves are indifferent. The party 
workers are as active as under the old system, but the 
people seem to care little which way things go. Even the 
Register and Leader, the Progressive organ which stout¬ 
ly defended the Iowa primary against its earlier critics, 
referred to the results of the second primary editorially 
as follows : 

Many explanations can be given for the light vote, and are 
being given. But behind them all there is an evident disappoint¬ 
ment that the Republicans of the State did not turn out and 
express their preferences. With politics a biennial affair it 
would seem that any important issue should bring the people to 


36 


APPLIED HISTORY 


the polls. Certainly there was enough involved in the present 
campaign to justify a rousing primary. But the people have 
not responded. If in the future they prove equally indifferent 
a serious question will be raised as to the feasibility of direct 
popular appeal. Iowa will not abandon the direct primary but 
there will be much less dogmatic insistence on it than there has 
been. 

THE UNKEPKESEHTATIVE CHAEACTEK OF THE PKIMARY 

It is further charged that the primary in Iowa is un¬ 
representative because the mass of the voters do not 
appear at the polls and because the test of party affilia¬ 
tion is not rigid enough to keep minority parties from 
determining the nominations of the majority party. It 
is asserted that the members of the minor parties, having 
made practically all of their nominations at a pre¬ 
primary caucus, may under the Iowa law freely and ag¬ 
gressively participate in the primary election of the 
majority party if their consciences will permit them to 
do so. 

Again, in the selection of township officers complaint 
is made that two or three votes have often nominated 
important township officers. A man with two or three 
boys of voting age may get a nomination and at the same 
time be a persona non grata in the community which he 
represents. This objection is partly removed by an 
amendment, passed in 1911, which provides that no candi¬ 
date for an office of a subdivision of a county shall be de¬ 
clared nominated who receives less than five per centum 
of the votes cast in such subdivision for Governor on the 
party ticket with which he affiliates, nor less than five 
votes. 

Furthermore, in the choosing of delegates to the 


PRIMARY ELECTIONS IN IOWA 


37 


county conventions the primary is declared to be unrep¬ 
resentative. A few men, it is said, make up a list of 
delegates in advance for each voting precinct, print the 
names on gummed paper, and send them out to the voters 
who vote the ticket straight, not knowing what the pro¬ 
posed delegates stand for. To he sure, it is answered 
that any other two or three men can put up opposing 
delegate tickets, and if none are put up no one ought to 
complain. 


UNINTELLIGENT VOTING 

Another serious charge advanced against the primary 
method of choosing candidates is that most of those who 
vote do not cast their ballots intelligently. Iowa boasts 
of a very small per cent of illiteracy in proportion to the 
total population; yet the public press of Iowa rings with 
the assertion that the majority of voters at the second 
Iowa primary did not vote intelligently. Some attribute 
this apparent unintelligent voting to a lack of knowledge 
of the candidates on the part of the voters. The primary 
election returns seem to justify the statement that ‘4n 
counties where a contestant's name appeared first on the 
ballot he invariably carried that county. If Carroll 
headed the list the Carroll voters voted almost in all 
cases for the head of the list for every other office, imag¬ 
ining they were Carroll men or vice versa.Which is 
our side?^’ is said to have been the anxious inquiry of 
many a voter who had failed to acquaint himself with the 
candidates for nomination. 

In the last two primary campaigns the issue between 
the two factions of the Eepublican party was clearly 
drawn on the endorsement of the administration of Pres¬ 
ident Taft. The endorsement of the President meant the 


38 


APPLIED HISTORY 


condemnation of the Insurgent Senators who had opposed 
the administration policy, declared the Progressives. 
The Standpatters succeeded in nominating their candi¬ 
date for Governor in 1910, and they undoubtedly de¬ 
termined the nominations in 1912. In 1910 the result was 
a personal victory for the Republican candidate, but an 
empty honor as far as the Standpatters were concerned; 
for the State convention held in accordance with the pro¬ 
visions of the primary law was Progressive by a large 
majority, and the Insurgent Senators made the chief 
speeches and wrote the platform. 

Some people attribute these inconsistent results to un¬ 
intelligent voting; but the Bes Moines Capital has offered 
another explanation. It declares that in the primary of 
1910 candidates for offices for which there were no con¬ 
tests received continuing smaller votes, according to their 
position on the ticket. For instance, the candidate for 
Lieutenant Governor received more votes in most coun¬ 
ties than did the candidate for Secretary of State whose 
name followed on the ballot. The next office down the list 
as printed on the ballot was that of State Auditor, and he 
received less votes generally than did the Secretary of 
State. The State Treasurer followed the State Auditor, 
and his vote was less than that which the State Auditor 
received. Thus, the facts seem to indicate that the voters 
in many instances, having voted for candidates where 
there was a contest, quit marking before they reached the 
end of the ballot. 


THE LONG BALLOT 

While the facts (see table on page 34 above) seem to 
substantiate in a measure the contention of the Bes 
Moines Capital, the results are, in the opinion of the 


PRIMARY ELECTIONS IN IOWA 


39 


writer, not so much due to a lack of intelligence or in¬ 
difference as to the inordinate length of the ballot. 
Students of government have become thoroughly con¬ 
vinced that the ballot should he materially shortened in 
order that the voter may be able to thoroughly acquaint 
himself with the qualifications of the more important 
and policy-determining officers. It is the complaint of 
even the most intelligent voters that they are bewildered 
by long lists of names on the party ballot. Candidacy for 
the minor offices is to-day scarcely more than a lottery. 

Immediately after the primary election of 1910 the 
Buhiique Telegraph-Herald declared that the Short Bal¬ 
lot must be adopted to make the direct primary a success. 
And on the day following the primary of 1912 the Regis¬ 
ter and Leader editorially demanded that the primary 
law be supplemented by the Short Ballot, saying in part: 

It is likely that in the end the only way to make it possible 
for the right sort of men to present themselves for the minor 
offices will be to take the minor offices off the ballot entirely. 

Why should the people elect a supreme court reporter? No¬ 
body can give an intelligent reason. At the general election he 
is taken as part of the party ticket and voted for in the general 
faith that the party nominee must be a proper man. In the old 
convention he was nominated as part of the general frame-up of 
the convention. But at the primary before which he must make 
his own individual campaign, and where he must be voted for 
on the individual information of the voter, he cannot even at 
great expense attract general attention, and the polling booth 
becomes a mere lottery. . . . 

On the ballot yesterday in Des Moines there were the names 
of twenty-three candidates for the office of constable. Not one 
voter in ten knew anything of the qualifications of any one of 
the twenty-three men. There is no reason why constables should 
be nominated and elected. But why not go farther? There is 
no reason why there should be such an officer as constable. 


40 


APPLIED HISTORY 


The legislature will be called upon at the coming session to 
make radical changes in the primary election law. It will be a 
good time to go to the root of the matter and put our state and 
county business on a business basis. We must have a shorter 
ballot in order to act intelligently at the primaries. A shorter 
ballot will work for business efficiency in every branch of the 
government. 

It is safe to say that, if the Short Ballot is adopted in 
connection with the primary law, many of the present 
criticisms of the primary will disappear. 

THE PKIMAKY A MENACE TO PAKTY 

It has been frequently urged that the primary tends 
to destroy the integrity of parties. This same argument 
was raised against the adoption of the Australian ballot, 
and later against the proposition to take the party circle 
oft the Australian ballot in Iowa. That these changes 
have promoted greater independence in voting can not be 
denied; but that they have given a more wholesome tone 
to elections is equally evident. No one would now se¬ 
riously advocate returning to the old system of the un¬ 
regulated ballot. In fact, there is a growing demand for 
the adoption of the original Australian ballot with its 
office grouping instead of the party column. It must be 
admitted that all of these changes tend to minimize the 
party influence. The so-called open primary has been 
especially assailed because it permits the voter without 
any test of party affiliation to vote for the candidates of 
either party so long as he does not vote both tickets at the 
same time. It is objected, further, that without some test 
of affiliation party responsibility ceases. 

Iowa has adopted the non-partisan primary for cities 
operating under the Des Moines plan. Perhaps the fu- 


PRIMARY ELECTIONS IN IOWA 


41 


ture will see an extension of this system to all primary 
elections. Indeed, Professor Jesse Macy has gone so far 
as to say that it may seriously be questioned whether the 
continuance of what is now known as party government is 
desirable. Professor C. E. Merriam is also of the opin¬ 
ion that ‘Hhe system of party enrollment or registration 
seems to lay undue stress on the rigidity of party organ¬ 
ization, although this may be to some extent offset by 
liberal provision for supplementary enrollment or change 
of party registration^’. 

Perhaps the solution lies in the adoption of the second 
choice plan as an addition to the present system. This 
would seem to make the Iowa primary law more satis¬ 
factory— more especially since the present thirty-five 
per cent rule frequently breaks down when there are sev¬ 
eral equally strong candidates. 

THE COST OF THE PRIMAKY 

The cost of candidacy under the Iowa primary law 
has been very generally criticised. The Dubuque Tele¬ 
graph-Herald, a Democratic paper, has demanded a 
stringent statutory regulation of expenditures by candi¬ 
dates, asserting that as much as $2,000 had been spent in 
a single county by a contestant. A poor man, it is de¬ 
clared, can not afford to go into a primary contest with 
a man of means. The Washington Democrat laments 
that it cost $1,500 to determine which of two candidates 
should be nominated for sheriff, and that places on the 
Board of Supervisors involved expenditures of money 
far in excess of the salary attached. ‘^The man with the 
largest purse”, says the Waterloo Times-Trihune, ‘4s 
most likely to get up the most enthusiasm and get most 
of the votes at the polls.” “Judge Prouty”, says the 


42 


APPLIED HISTORY 


Story City Herald, spent $5,000 in his primary cam¬ 
paign for the congressional nomination/^ The Charles 
City Intelligencer remarks that ^‘the recent primary 
campaign cost Lafe Young, candidate for Senator, nearly 
$ 10 , 000 /^ 

The expense of the primary to the State is also criti¬ 
cised. The Des Moines Daily Capital asserts that the 
primary election costs ninety-six cents per ballot in Scott 
County. One dollar per ballot is frequently asserted to 
be the cost of the primary to the taxpayers of Iowa. 
^‘The present primary law’^, says the Anita Tribune, ^‘is 
an expensive luxury which could be easily denied the 
people as a whole, and would be a saving of not less than 
a quarter million of dollars to the tax-payers of the State 
during each biennial period. ’ ’ 

A Congressman from Iowa informed the writer that 
he had found it necessary to run a twenty dollar political 
advertisement in each of the seventy newspapers in his 
district. It is generally conceded then that primary cam¬ 
paigns as now conducted are more expensive to the candi¬ 
date than a contest for delegates under the old system. 
The public, however, can not obtain too much information 
relative to candidates and issues; and as long as the ex¬ 
penditures for such purpose are not so great as to bar 
the man of small means the expenditures are probably 
justified. There is at present no provision in the laws of 
Iowa limiting the amount which a candidate may expend 
in a primary campaign. The enactment of a thorough¬ 
going corrupt practices act, applicable to primary and 
final elections alike would no doubt materially lessen the 
cost of candidacy. Perhaps the system in force in Wis¬ 
consin and Oregon, wherein the State issues a publicity 
pamphlet giving a certain amount of space to the claims 
of candidates, is the ultimate solution of the problem. 


PRIMARY ELECTIONS IN IOWA 


43 


THE PERSISTENCE OF THE CAUCUS 

That the primary has not always brought out as many 
candidates as might he expected is due no doubt in part 
to the pre-primary caucuses which are generally held in 
secret. In these ‘‘parlor’^ or ^‘office” caucuses the party 
leaders determine who are to he the party’s representa¬ 
tives on the primary ballot. Thus contests within the 
party are frequently eliminated from the primary. In 
the primary campaign of 1912 there were but three con¬ 
tests out of ten State offices to be filled on the Democratic 
ticket. At the same time it should be observed that the 
persistence of the caucus is not conclusive evidence of the 
failure of the primary, since these caucus slates are easily 
broken and the authority of the bosses overthrown by 
simply complying with the provisions of the primary law. 

THE TIME OF HOLDING THE PRIMARY 

The date of holding the primary (the first Monday in 
June) has been criticised as one of the most unfortunate 
features of the Iowa law. In the first place, it is con¬ 
tended that the date is too long before the election, en¬ 
tailing the needless expense of a long campaign; and in 
the second place, it comes at a time of the year when it is 
most difficult for the farmers to leave their work. Public 
interest demands that campaigns be brief. Accordingly, 
provisions which would fix the date of the primary about 
six or eight weeks before the general election would seem 
to be adequate for all purposes of public discussion. 

SOME GENERAL OBSERVATIONS 

The Iowa primary law has perhaps been criticised too 
much from the standpoint of ‘Apolitical” results: where¬ 
as it should be judged rather from the viewpoint of the 




44 


APPLIED HISTORY 


opportunity which it presents. The old convention 
method was open to as much criticism and more abuse 
than the primary. The new system has not as a matter 
of fact destroyed the party, although it has overthrown 
some of the old party practices. The primary law is not 
perfect: it will require considerable revision and amend¬ 
ment before it will be entirely satisfactory. Moreover, 
it must be remembered that the enactment of the primary 
law was bitterly opposed, so that many of its provisions 
represent compromises. 

Since there seems to be no turning back from the 
principle of direct primary nomination, where it has once 
been established, it would appear to be the task of future 
General Assemblies in this State to expand and strength¬ 
en the primary election law in the light both of local ex¬ 
perience and of the advanced legislation of other States. 
A number of States have already adopted the presi¬ 
dential preference primary, and have successfully tested 
it in the campaign of 1912. The enactment of such a law 
in Iowa will no doubt be seriously considered by the 
Thirty-fifth General Assembly. Again, it will be remem¬ 
bered that the Oregon plan of electing United States 
Senators was passed by the Thirty-fourth General As¬ 
sembly, but was defeated by the Governor’s veto on 
constitutional grounds. Since, however, the constitu¬ 
tionality of a similar measure, based upon the Oregon 
plan and enacted by Minnesota in 1911, has not been 
questioned, etforts will doubtless be renewed to secure 
the adoption of this principle at the regular session of 
the Thirty-fifth General Assembly in 1913. 

The writer has attempted to summarize in the con¬ 
cluding chapter of this paper the general consensus 
of expert opinion as to the existing standards of pri- 


PRIMARY ELECTIONS IN IOWA 


45 


mary legislation — standards wliicli should be consid¬ 
ered from the viewpoint of political science and of 
popular government, regardless of the effects of their 
adoption upon the fortunes of a particular individual or 
upon the immediate success or failure of a particular 
party. 





V 

STANDARDS OF PRIMARY REGULATION 


The history of primary elections in Iowa, and in other 
jurisdictions as well, when interrogated from the view¬ 
point of political science, suggests certain well defined 
standards of regulation. These may be summarized 
briefiy in terms of the following propositions:— 

First. The methods of nominating candidates for 
elective offices should be defined and regulated by law. 
In a democracy the function of nominating candidates 
for office is so vital that it may not safely be left to the 
customary orderings of voluntary, extra-legal organiza¬ 
tions. 

Second. The regulated primary should be State-wide 
and applicable to all elective offices, including those of the 
judiciary. Limited primaries are but temporary expedi¬ 
ents. Moreover, there is a growing conviction that the 
primary would produce as good, if not better, results in 
the selection of candidates for judicial offices as are ob¬ 
tained through the convention system. It may be added 
that the presidential preference primary falls within the 
principles of primary regulation, and that, pending the 
adoption of the proposed constitutional amendment pro¬ 
viding for their election by the people, the Oregon plan 
of selecting United States Senators at the State primary 
might well be adopted. 

Third. There is a tendency in primary regulation to 
depart from the strictly closed or partisan primary, re- 


46 


PRIMARY ELECTIONS IN IOWA 


47 


quiring a severe test of party allegiance, in favor of an 
open primary. Moreover, the open primary tends to the 
non-partisan primary, which in Iowa has already been 
made a feature of commission governed cities. 

Fourth. The adoption of the short ballot’^ would he 
a recognition of a principle which is demanded both by 
sound political science and by universal political experi¬ 
ence. Indeed, the adoption of a short ballot’’ for pri¬ 
mary and general elections is regarded as one of the 
most effective means of carrying out the spirit of modern 
democracy. 

Fifth. The primary ballot should he prepared and 
authenticated by public officials; and the names of candi¬ 
dates should he rotated on the ballots according to a 
system — thus avoiding the fortuitous advantages of the 
fixed alphabetical arrangement. 

Sixth. The primary election should he equipped with 
the same election machinery as may be provided for the 
general elections. That is to say, primary elections 
should be held in the same manner as are general elec¬ 
tions. 

Seventh. Simple pluralities, or some percentage less 
than a majority, should be regarded as sufficient in pri¬ 
mary elections. Theoretically there is much to he said in 
favor of a system of second choices; but such a system 
would seem to require a campaign of education to ac¬ 
quaint the voter with its intelligent operation. 

Eighth. Primary elections should he held not more 
than six or eight weeks before the final election. Long 
campaigns entail needless expense. 

Ninth. The purity of primary elections should he 
protected by a comprehensive corrupt practices act. In¬ 
deed, legislation defining corrupt and illegal practices 


48 


APPLIED HISTORY 


and limiting the costs of candidacy are as necessary in 
the case of the primary as in the final election. (See 
Peterson ^s history of Corrupt Practices Legislation in 
Iowa in the Iowa Applied History Series.) 

Tenth. Difficulties growing out of combining the con¬ 
vention system with the primary system for platform 
purposes suggest that a candidates ’ convention be substi¬ 
tuted for the delegate convention — especially since it 
will devolve upon the successful candidates to carry out 
their own declaration of principles. 


IOWA APPLIED HISTORY SERIES 

EDITED BY BENJAMIN F. SHAMBAUGH 

VOLUME I NUMBER 4 


Primary Elections 
in Iowa 

BY 

FRANK E. HORACK 






REPRINTED FROM VOLUME ONE OF THE IOWA 

APPLIED HISTORY SERIES PUBLISHED AT IOWA CITY 

IN 1912 BY THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF IOWA 






















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